The Lamp of Memory

John Ruskin was one of the most important art critics of the Victorian era. He writes about art the way Kant wrote about metaphysics, or the way Gaiman writes about fantasy-based modern societies: with passion, and believability. This book isn't a 'start to finish' account of one particular subject. Rather, it serves as a collection of several essays and collections of public accounts (my personal favourite being his inaugural address at the Cambridge School of Art - 1858). Ruskin was years ahead of the crowd. He speaks of the diminishing 'perceived' value of art and creative projects way before we arrived here in 2013. Ruskin also takes the time to critique the reasoning behind why people make art, and why those who step into any creative process with monetary or narcissistic-based intentions are doomed for failure. There are many quotes in this book, but here is one of my favourites: 'There's no way of getting good Art, I repeat, but one - at once the simplest and most difficult - namely, to enjoy it. Examine the history of nations, and you will find this great fact clear and unmistakeable on the front of it - that good Art has only been produced by nations who rejoiced in it; fed themselves with it, as if it were bread; basked in it, as if it were sunshine; shouted at the sight of it; danced with the delight of it; quarrelled for it; fought for it; starved for it; did, in fact, precisely the opposite with it of what we want to do with it - they made it to keep, and we to sell'